Drawing Insights From Local Arts and Culture

While our blog typically focuses on tips and tricks for professional success, we know that you have a life outside of your workplace. Which is why today we’re encouraging you to establish a work-life balance in the here and now that honors Black History Month. Below we’ll highlight upcoming arts and culture events offered by the City and Boston, but know that you can learn from inspirational local voices year-round, each and every day. The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture has compiled a public list of Black-founded and Black-led arts and cultural organizations across the city to help Bostonians best support Black culture and history. For different ways to learn more from diverse voices across the city, check out the aforementioned events below.

We’re especially excited about A Nubian Movement: African Dance Workshop ft. Wyoma, happening on February 13th at 2PM. Participants will “[l]earn about and celebrate various African dance forms with local performance artist, Wyoma.” This event is appropriate for all ages, offering up a way for you and your family to engage in an embodied act of learning. Just as we encourage you to occasionally take dance breaks during your work day, we also suggest that you switch up your learning strategies to encounter local Black perspectives through movement. In the spirit of learning not just in February but throughout the year, instructor Wyoma also offers up classes year-round. You can learn more at her website, www.wyomadance.com. Make sure that you’re keeping an eye out for all of the opportunities for learning that exist around you.

Taking place on February 18th at 4PM, we also encourage you to attend Dream Chasers 2021 One Mic Many Voices if you are able: “Each year during Black History Month, Dream Chasers brings together youth performers from Boston neighborhoods alongside a panel of community leaders to celebrate the powerful voices and aspirations of our youth, and the impact that community members of color have on the vibrance and success of our City.” We know the importance of listening to youth perspectives in addition to elders–after all, the saying goes, “Children are the future.” They can offer up a fresh perspective that takes into account Black history while paving the way for that future. At Contemporaries, we’re committed to celebrating the diversity that enriches our city. Which is why we’re also excited to listen to and learn from community leaders as well. We encourage all of our readers to listen to marginalized voices and do the important work of learning alongside us. 

While we know that these unprecedented times have offered up a lot of challenges, one of the things that we’re thankful for is increased access to educational opportunities in arts and culture and beyond–especially because if you are unable to attend these events while they’re occurring, recordings are available. Make sure you’re also checking out that list of local Black-founded and Black-led arts and cultural organizations for even more chances to catch concerts, poetry readings, plays, and more. These vibrant voices in artistic and cultural settings will help you balance out all that you do in your professional environment, allowing you to bring more nuanced perspectives with you back to your workplace. Visit us again throughout the week as we consider even more ways to honor Black History Month each and every day, in your professional environment and beyond. 

Image retrieved from Pixabay under the public domain.

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